Sway to the Rhythm of Love
by Safety-Hazard-XDLOL
Summary: Church is being a jackass, Tucker shares wisdom, Tex beats out the answers and Caboose teaches piano. High school AU fic, Churboose ChurchXCaboose (just cute and fluffy) and mild Tux TuckerXTex. Connects to my main AU story 'Blood Gulch High'.
1. Chapter 1

**Sway to the Rhythm of Love **

**Summary: Church is being a jackass, Tucker shares wisdom, Tex beats out the answers and Caboose teaches piano. High school AU fic, Churboose ChurchXCaboose (just cute and fluffy) and mild Tux TuckerXTex. Connects to my main AU story 'Blood Gulch High'. **

**Chapter one: First Lesson**

Caboose smiled as he walked happily to school. There was a skip in his step as he looked up to see clear skies and birds flying joyfully overhead. It was a surprising warm late autumn morning, with the frost from the night before melting in the fresh sunlight.

He had music first, something he was incredibly thankful for. Music was easily his favourite subject, mostly because it was the only one he was good at. That, and spot. But the sport teachers were mean.

Walking in he spotted a few of his friends, but none were the friend he was looking for. Caboose was looking for his best friend.

Suddenly he saw a mop of raven hair and recognised it immediately. Grinning broadly he ran over to his best friend, wrapping his arms around the other happily. He loved hugs.

Church on the other hand, was not so fond.

Pushing Caboose off with a growl, Church turned to face the other teen. His dark frown juxtaposed with Caboose's bright smile nicely.

"Good morning!"

Church grit his teeth and forced a nod of acknowledgment, headache growing considerably. He was already in a bad mood before Caboose showed up. The school's student advisor had told him that to pass the year he was going to have to take up an extra class. So he had taken music, thinking it would be easy enough. But he was still pissed about having to take another class.

"Ah, morning."

He scratched the back of his neck, eyes closed in frustration.

"What's wrong, Church? Are you being bullied by that mean lady again?"

Caboose asked with a tilt of his head. Church just rolled his eyes.

"What? No. I'm just being forced to take music, is all."

Caboose's eyes brightened to the point it almost terrified Church.

"That's AWESOME! We can both be in music!"

Caboose let out an overly dramatic gasp.

"We can be music friends!"

Church's left eye twitched. This moment was the moment he decided he would be re-living in therapy in a few years down the track.

Before Church could voice his outrage the bell had rang and he was being dragged off towards the music rooms. He was pulled into the classroom and down into a seat right next to the exuberant Caboose.

The teacher walked in and told all the students to continue on their project before spotting the unamused Church. All the students were now up and walking around, making their way to a whole different selection of instruments.

"Leonard, we are working on an assignment at the moment."

She handed him a sheet with what Church assumed was the projects outline written on it.

"Basically it is a partnered assignment. You are to perform a song with another person, whether it be singing, guitar or whatever you'd like. Michael and Dexter already have the only two pianos, unfortunately."

And with those words she was off talking to another group of students in the blink of an eye.

"This is going to be awesome! I'm the only person without a partner, so you can be with me!"

Church cursed his bad luck, but he wasn't deep enough in the pool of self-loathing not to register the teacher mentioning that Caboose was going to be playing the piano.

Caboose stood up, grabbing onto Church's sleeve and tugging him out of the room and to one of the sound proof ones. It was almost completely empty except for a grand piano sitting in the centre, which Caboose was making his way over to.

"So what can you play?"

Caboose asked sliding into the seat. Church shook his head, getting over the idea of Caboose playing the piano quickly by assuming he couldn't actually play well.

"Nothing."

He grumbled, making his way over to Caboose due to having nothing else in the room to look at.

"I know then! I'll teach you to play piano with me!"

Church scoffed as he was dragged down once by Caboose once again, this time next to him on the piano seat. He highly doubted Caboose could play piano; he really didn't do anything that entirely well.

Suddenly Church's ears were filled with the gentle playing of music, a tune he just couldn't quite recognise. He looked over to see Caboose's eyes half lidded, but completely focuses on his hands as they quickly danced over the keys.

"_Have you ever fed a lover, with just your hands_

_Closed your eyes and trusted, just trusted_

_Have you ever thrown a fist-full of glitter in the air_

_Have you ever looked fear in the face and said I just don't care_

_It's only half way past the point of no return_

_The tip of the iceberg_

_The sun before the burn_

_The thunder before the lighting _

_And the breath before the freeze_

_Have you ever felt this way"_

Caboose continued to play and sing, keeping Church in a bubble of complete awe. Never in his wildest dream would he imagine Caboose actually being able to play piano like he was in that moment. 

After what felt like an eternity Caboose bowed his head as he pulled to the end. After a moment of silence the blond looked up to Church, face eager and craving.

"That was…."

Church's mind filled with a million adjectives he could use but settle on what he thought was the most appropriate.

"Amazing."

Caboose beamed, and Church thought due to his excitement he may or may not explode.

"Now I'll teach you!"

Caboose turned to his piano, pointing at all the different keys and explaining what they're called and what sound they made. Church wondered how someone like Caboose managed to remember this whilst he himself was having trouble paying attention.

Maybe he was too busy staring at Caboose's face, watching in silent amusement at how delighted and passionate Caboose was about teaching Church something he was so obviously enthusiastic about.

The word 'cute' definitely didn't pass through Church's thoughts, nope. Not once.

**Ok, pre-warning. This isn't going to be nearly as long as my other story. Just a side story. **


	2. Chapter 2: Fights and Friends

Chapter Two: Fights and Friends

Church sat silently in his English class, eyes tiredly watching the teacher walk back and forth preaching about Shakespeare or some other poet Church didn't care about. He was feeling exasperated, both physically and mentally.

His girlfriend sat just as silently beside him, arms folded against her chest as she leaned back on her chair. She pulled herself closer to her desk with a sigh, fingers now drumming against the wooden table.

Church's left eye twitch.

With each beat of her finger Church was filled with an aggravating thought. Some about how painfully nice it was playing piano with Caboose. Some about how infuriating Tex could be. And even more about how loud that infernal tapping was.

"God, Church. What's your problem?"

That was it for Church. That dam broke, the last straw fell and Church had definitely heard his last tap for the day.

"You're my fucking problem!"

Church meant to only think it, but his mouth had other ideas. The fierce couple were suddenly thrown into an arguing match that every student in the classroom would remember for a long time, all the while a petrified teacher tried in vain to calm the two down.

Screams and shout could be heard from all over the school, but the fight didn't end long. It was only five minutes in before Tex swung her fist and hit Church square in the jaw, sending Church stumbling back.

"IT'S FUCKING OVER!"

Tex growled as she picked up a student's pencil case, throwing it has hard as she could due to the boy across from her being out of punching range. Church dodged it quickly.

"FINE BY ME, ASSHOLE!"

She yelled as Church stormed out of the classroom, both his ex-girlfriend and teacher yelling behind him. Just as he slammed the door, the bell went for his next class.

He definitely wasn't ready for science, Caboose was in his science.

Church figured he could chill out alone behind the math staff room, which was his regular smoking spot. Not something he did often, but he was definitely a stress smoker. He huffed as he made the walk across the school.

He shoved past students all the way down a busy hall in till he walked out into an open out door pathway. He followed it in till he made it to behind the staff room, where he was unpleasantly surprised to see Dexter Grif already sitting with his back to the wall, cigarette perched between his lips and appeared to be fumbling for a lighter.

"Looking for a light?"

I asked coldly. He looked up at me with an eyebrow raised, his golden eyes looking just a dull as mine.

"Yer, I was."

Church though he sounded sarcastic, but assumed it was just his bitter tone. The dark haired boy pulled out a cigarette of his own followed by his lighter, sparking up his smoke before tossing it over to Grif, who caught it lazily.

"So, what are you doing here anyway?"

Grif asked curiously, making Church stiffen slightly before rolling his shoulders absently. He let the question roll right of him, not wanting to answer and especially not when the person he was talking to was Grif.

Church stayed standing up, not wanted to get completely comfortable around Grif. He took a long drag of his cigarette, letting out a puff of smoke as he began pacing absently.

"Hey Church, would you piss off?"

Church turned sharply to glare at Grif menacingly, only a little surprised to see Grif suddenly look like a deer caught in headlights. He was in no mood to deal with Grif's shit, and he briefly considered kicking the Hawaiians ass.

"Fuck off. Where else would I smoke, idiot?"

Church hissed as darkly as possible, only to be disappointed when Grif seemed to relax. And he took personal offense when Grif had the nerve to roll his eyes.

It drifted back into an almost awkward silence, neither wanting the other to continue conversation. Forced to be in each other's presence by the need of a place to smoke.

But much to Church's distaste the Hawaiian couldn't keep his mouth shut.

"Fine, fuck-face. So why are you here again? Didn't know you smoked."

Church raised an eyebrow, opening his mouth with a slight snarl ready to snap back with something harsh, only to let his entire face drop to one of submission. He leaned back on the wall opposite to Grif and slid down, taking a deep drag of his cigarette.

"Long day, ok? Give me a fucking break."

Grif suddenly seemed to nod in understanding. The truth is he didn't know why Grif was making conversation with him; the only reason they even spoke to one another was due to having Tucker as a mutual friend.

Church blinked in surprise as Grif suddenly stood up, looking almost claustrophobic as he quickly excited the small space without so much as a goodbye.

It didn't really bother Church as he watched Grif leave rather abruptly. He even let out a sigh of content, as he took another puff of smoke. But is very brief moment of piece was rudely interrupted by the sound of the schools bell, signalling the start of lunch.

Church pulled himself to his feet, walking slowly through the crowd of people. He heard curses and a thud come from nearby, which sounded oddly like Grif, but it went ignored. He continued his walk in silence in till a body moved up beside him.

"Heard about you and Tex, that's rough pal."

Church turned to see Tucker by his side, a grim smile on his face. They both walked out into the sun and down a set of outside stairs to a silver seat. Sitting down Church let out a sigh.

"It was always going to happen…."

"They break up?"

"Of course the break up."

Both pulled out lunch, Tucker stuffing his face and Church looking at his own in disgust. They weren't alone for long before Caboose in all his everlasting energy bounced excitedly up to the table, taking his usual spot close to Church's side.

Church wondered at what point Caboose invading his personal space stopped bothering him.

Tucker looked at him knowingly, which made Church not only a tad uncomfortable but also made him break out in a dark glare.

"Hey Church?"

The suddenly very small voice from beside him drew Church out of his staring contest with Tucker, and he quickly moved his attention over to Caboose.

"What?"

He growled out impatiently, but in truth he really did wonder what had got Caboose to be so introverted.

"I really liked playing the piano with you."

Church fought back a blush at how adorable the blond was looking, and quickly flicked his eyes over to Tucker who seemed to be on the verge of laughter.

"Well, I'm off to find Grif."

Tucker excused himself with a smirk, and Caboose seemed to brighten at the idea of Tucker leaving. Church could feel a headache forming.

It was definitely going to be a long couple of weeks for Church.


End file.
